Interestingly, while Mars is about half the diameter of Earth, its surface has nearly the same area as Earth’s dry land. This dust gets kicked up into the atmosphere and from a distance makes the planet appear mostly red. The reason Mars looks reddish is due to oxidization – or rusting – of iron in the rocks, regolith (Martian “soil”), and dust of Mars. At the surface, we see colors such as brown, gold, and tan. This crust is between 6 and 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) deep. Surrounding the core is a rocky mantle between 770 and 1,170 miles (1,240 to 1,880 kilometers) thick, and above that, a crust made of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium. Mars has a dense core at its center between 930 and 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 kilometers) in radius. Mars is about half the size of Earth, and like its fellow terrestrial planets, it has a central core, a rocky mantle, and a solid crust. When the solar system settled into its current layout about 4.5 billion years ago, Mars formed when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become the fourth planet from the Sun. However, in 50 million years when Phobos crashes into Mars or breaks apart, it could create a dusty ring around the Red Planet. Oddly-shaped Deimos is covered in loose dirt that often fills the craters on its surface, making it appear smoother than pockmarked Phobos. It is slowly moving towards Mars and will crash into the planet or break apart in about 50 million years.ĭeimos is about half as big as Phobos and orbits two and a half times farther away from Mars. Phobos, the innermost and larger moon, is heavily cratered, with deep grooves on its surface. The moons get their names from the horses that pulled the chariot of the Greek god of war, Ares. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona | › Full image and caption Mars' largest moon Phobos as seen by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2008. Northern winter/southern summer is 154 sols, and northern summer/southern winter is 178 sols. Autumn in the northern hemisphere (spring in the southern) is the shortest at 142 days. Spring in the northern hemisphere (autumn in the southern) is the longest season at 194 sols. And while here on Earth the seasons are evenly spread over the year, lasting 3 months (or one quarter of a year), on Mars the seasons vary in length because of Mars' elliptical, egg-shaped orbit around the Sun. Like Earth, Mars has distinct seasons, but they last longer than seasons here on Earth since Mars takes longer to orbit the Sun (because it's farther away). This is another similarity with Earth, which has an axial tilt of 23.4 degrees. Mars' axis of rotation is tilted 25 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. Martian days are called sols – short for "solar day." A year on Mars lasts 669.6 sols, which is the same as 687 Earth days. Orbit and RotationĪs Mars orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 24.6 hours, which is very similar to one day on Earth (23.9 hours). From this distance, it takes sunlight 13 minutes to travel from the Sun to Mars. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mars would be about as big as a raspberry.įrom an average distance of 142 million miles (228 million kilometers), Mars is 1.5 astronomical units away from the Sun. With a radius of 2,106 miles (3,390 kilometers), Mars is about half the size of Earth. Instead, they're looking for signs of life that existed long ago, when Mars was warmer and covered with water. Scientists don't expect to find living things currently thriving on Mars. Other civilizations also named the planet for this attribute – for example, the Egyptians called it "Her Desher," meaning "the red one." Even today, it is frequently called the "Red Planet" because iron minerals in the Martian dirt oxidize, or rust, causing the surface to look red. Mars was named by the ancient Romans for their god of war because its reddish color was reminiscent of blood. Go farther: Mars exploration and missions > Mars is one of the easiest planets to spot in the night sky – it looks like a bright red point of light.ĭespite being inhospitable to humans, robotic explorers – like NASA's new Perseverance rover – are serving as pathfinders to eventually get humans to the surface of the Red Planet. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars is one of Earth's two closest planetary neighbors (Venus is the other).
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